October 12th is a day of remembrance in Venezuela, as we look back to the arrival of the Spaniards, and the subsequent slave trade, which brought Africans to labor on our lands. It’s a day to celebrate the culture that has resulted from the mix of those people, and also to reflect on the injustices of colonization.
This is also the most important day of the year for the Venezuelan followers of Santería, a form of spiritualism that combines indigenous and African beliefs with Catholicism. In Venezuela, this centers around the image of María Lionza, a green-eyed indigenous princess who is said to have almost perished when an anaconda swallowed her in the mountain of Sorte, which is located in the western state of Yaracuy. In the entrails of the snake, she prayed to the mountain god and it took pity on her, splitting the snake in two and allowing her to emerge from the river, becoming one with the mountain.
Today, she’s venerated along with other powerful figures or potencias. You’ll find her in a central spot in the altar, flanked by the indigenous chief Guaicaipuro and the black hero of the independence referred to as El Negro Felipe (because even in modern-day Venezuela, it’s still common to refer to someone by the color of their skin, one example of how racism continues in our society today). Many followers of Santería will practice this belief alongside Catholicism, with figures of Jesus Saint Barbara, independence hero Simón Bolívar and even the late president Hugo Chávez alongside the potencias.
I interviewed a historian on this when I was starting my journalism career in Caracas in the 2000s and she explained that the reason that this belief is so enduring and widespread, is that it combines the three main origins of our culture: Indigenous, African and Spanish.
Venezuela’s spiritualism is core to my stories, to the point that the titles and structure of my first novel are based on haunted legends, the practice of Santería and family ghost stories. Santería has also been the inspiration for a short story that I’m working on, about a college student in Caracas, who struggles with the impotency of being powerless in a crisis-ridden country, where inequality and corruption are everywhere, even in your own family. I’ll share more about these stories soon.
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